Of Puddles and Earthworms

Chance of showers, the weather forecast said. I could hear the rain pattering against the window this morning when I woke up.

“Are you riding?” my fiancé asked when he came through the door. He had his rain gear on. I looked out the window again. It wasn’t raining that hard, if at all. In another ten minutes I was out the door and riding, dodging the earthworms that had crawled up onto the pavement to get out of the rain.

We’ve been biking to work together, since he can park at my place for free and ride downtown instead of paying for parking there. We’ve tried a couple different routes this week, looking for the best one. As bikers, it’s nice not to ride in the middle of rush hour traffic. Vehicles are generally polite, but I try to stay out of their way as much as possible. There are quieter roads and the bike paths to ride on.

There were few other people out this morning as I rode around the puddles and earthworms. For the ride home, the path is generally busy with dog-walkers and other cyclists, but on an early rainy morning, I was the only one out. The usual smell of the brewery was covered up by the rain or blown away by the strong north wind that was pushing me to work. Riding home against it won’t be as nice.

My fiancé met me at my office last night after work, and we chased each other home on our bikes. It was fun to show him where I’ve been riding for the last month, to shout random comments at him as we rode, to draft behind him against the wind. I haven’t had a biking partner in years, since I used to ride around the countryside with a friend in junior high school.

I’ve been watching the clouds all day, wondering if the “chance of showers” could also mean “chance of sun.” So far it hasn’t. The north wind continues to blow and random raindrops continue to hit my window. So in a few hours I’ll run downstairs to meet him and we’ll go puddle-hopping together on the way home again.